Jun 2, 2011
ARLINGTON, VA — June 2, 2011 — Today, the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie G. Sarasin and FMI Board of Directors Chairman Fred Morganthall participated in activities surrounding the launch of the new food icon, MyPlate, by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). In addition, Sarasin served as one of five panelists contributing at the press conference following the USDA MyPlate announcement.

The following is a transcript of Sarasin’s statement at the press conference:

Food Marketing Institute’s (FMI) member companies are the grocery stores and supermarkets that feed families and enrich lives in neighborhoods throughout our nation. Food retailers care about the health and well-being of their customers. We believe the Choose MyPlate graphic will resonate with the consumer’s actual home dining experience and provide useful nutrition guidance.

According to data published in FMI’s U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2011, two-thirds of American food shoppers acknowledge that their diets could be healthier. MyPlate provides a good visual base for programs giving American consumers the information they need (and want!) to make good nutrition decisions for themselves and their families.

FMI and our member companies are always glad to cooperate with programs providing needed nutrition information and helpful encouragement to American consumers. We believe the new USDA ChooseMyPlate.gov program - and its supplemental resources - will work well with FMI's consumer information programs such as Nutrition Keys, which we are hard at work implementing.

We commend USDA for their commitment to help Americans enjoy healthy meals.